CoStar Group, an information service provider focused on the commercial real estate industry, has formed an alliance with the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) Institute to provide CCIM members with online access to CoStar's database of researched and verified commercial property listings. Members will have access to all for sale listings in the U.S. that are included in the CoStar database in addition to lease listings in each member's local market.
While members will be able to search the CoStar database, they will also be able to list their own for sale properties in the database--increasing their reach to CoStar's subscribers (which include investors and brokers).
The partnership will also enable CCIM members to access CoStar Connect, a service that lets brokers and owners post their own for lease and for sale listings on their own web sites using CoStar's listing information and building photos. CoStar Connect automatically updates and manages customers' online property information.
This deal with CCIM is a big win for CoStar, as competition in the commercial real estate listings space continues to strengthen. CoStar and its nearest competitor, LoopNet, are trying to position themselves as the workflow platform of choice for the industry. Working with CCIM, which is an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors, will definitely help CoStar raise its profile within the industry and offering tools such as CoStar Connect will also help motivate members to regularly utilize that and all of CoStar's features. The alliance undoubtedly expands CoStar's reach--more than 8,700 commercial real estate practitioners hold the CCIM designation.